Cas Anvar Star Of THE EXPANSE Exclusive Interview

We got the chance to speak with Cas Anvar (The Strain) about the power of fandom and what happens next for The Expanse.

Check out the transcript of the interview below.

HNS = Hollywood News Source

CA = Cas Anvar

HNS

Do you have any conventions either here in North America or Europe coming up in the next few months?

CA

I don’t have anything happening in the near future because currently I am shooting a feature film I am in Europe, I’m shooting in various countries in Europe but no breaks for any appearances. I know there are some Cons planned for the Fall we’ve got our fingers crossed that we’ll be attending DragonCon it hasn’t been organised yet but there is hope for it taking place. Hopefully there will be others.

HNS

In renewal news we had Timeless (Cas interjected with a question) that returned for a second season, Lucifer has finally been saved by Netflix.

CA

Has Timeless been renewed?

HNS

No there has been no word on a season three renewal I was just referring to the surprise season two.

CA

Which I don’t understand by the way that is an amazing show and I love it. I don’t know why they are giving them such a hard time these guys deserve to come back. There are a couple of really good friends of mine on that show Sakina Jaffrey and Abigail Spencer those are two actors I’ve worked before and like very much. They do a great job and that show deserves to get several more seasons

HNS

I definitely agree (question continues) we’ve also seen Brooklyn 99 moving to a new network. So my question is are fans finally being heard when they say here is a genre show, we like it can you keep it around for once?

CA

I think that is a great question and I think the answer is yes, the fans have an absolutely immense amount of power if, and here is the big “if” if they are organised structured and strategic in the way they organise their movement. That is what happened with The Expanse, I know the Lucifer campaign is extremely powerful and moving so I hope that they have success there. I know there is an extremely strong movement with Timeless and there is a couple of other shows I know of that I have friends and colleagues on that are going to be organising themselves. One thing that we did with our fan base is we saw how passionate they were but they were expressing themselves in 360 degrees all over the map, they were talking to Amazon, they were talking to Netflix they were talking to Syfy, talking to everyone on the map. It was a lot of energy and a lot of passion and what I did was I went and talked to Syfy, went and talked to Alcon the production company and I talked to some of the people in the higher ends of the industry and I got a few key pieces of information that allowed me to structure and organise and strategize with the fans. So I went out and I started talking to them on my twitter and said if you want to save the show this is what you got to do and those guys responded like a well-oiled machine, like an army of warriors and they turned the tide. An article just came out, an interview with the Head of Amazon Programming and she that the reason they renewed the show and picked it up was because of the fans, they said that they were inundated by powerful passionate demonstrations of the fans love of the show and that coupled with the fact that Jeff Bezos was a huge fan of the books and the show and was probably really rooting for the show himself that doesn’t really hurt right when your boss is in love with the show but they said the main reason they did it was because of the fans. So the answer to your question is yes if you approach it in a positive, constructive, creative and strategic way then you can move mountains and you can change the world.

HNS

Something that I have wondered while watching the show and this is just a question for your role as Alex do you ever get to shoot outside in the show

CA

That’s a good question, even when we do away missions it is still in the studio. I don’t think I have done a single scene in a real location it has all been in space, that is a very interesting question. Most of the Roci crew has been like that I think Steven (Strait who plays James Holden) may have as you saw in Season 3 recently he did a couple of scenes that were kind of interesting flashback type things where he was no longer where he was supposed to be and I think he got to do something different there. For the most part though we all are on a ship or a space station and that is all studio.

HNS

Now that the show is renewed are you preparing yourself for the inevitable musical episode?

CA

(Laughing) From your lips to God’s ears man or rather from your lips to Naren Shankar’s ears, Naren is our showrunner so hopefully he will take that seriously. I am actually meeting with him Friday so I’m going to suggest to him a musical episode

HNS

I think some sort of number with you and Amos?

CA

A little country duet, a little Southern charm? I think that is about the right speed.

HNS

Season 3 Episode 11 “A Fallen World” has such a striking opening scene can you tell us a little about what it was like filming that episode.

CA

The end of season 3 is quite mind boggling the whole series just takes a new direction and a new tack we start to go into a whole different world, I can’t really talk a whole lot about it but it is something that I think will blow the fans mind and will take the show in a totally new direction for season 4.

HNS

Do you have a message for the Expanse fans out there?

CA

Yeah, first of all I want to say thank you to fans, all the fans that were involved in the Save The Expanse campaign. You guys really made a difference and you guys were the difference. Secondly to let them know what I said before you guys can constantly let your voices be known, let your voice be heard there is nothing you can’t accomplish. Lastly because of your hard work we’re going to get a season 4 and you’ll get to see a completely different type of show, basically it is like a symphony and the first three seasons have finished the first movement of the symphony and now the second movement is about to start, books four five and six those are the second movement of the symphony that is The Expanse. You’ll get the same characters and the same universe but a completely different type of show so it is going to be very interesting for the fans they are going to have all sorts of new flavours to enjoy

HNS

Can you tell us about the film projects you have coming up?

CA

I am doing a film right now called The Operative with Diane Kruger and Martin Freeman which I am very excited about it is going to be a great thriller. I’ve completed already a feature with the working title “Between Earth and Sky” starring Peter Sarsgaard and that one is further along I think they have already completed some screenings of the film and it is looking really, really good they are very excited about it. I’m not exactly sure when it is going to be released that is another excited action thriller that Veena Sud for those that don’t know her she was a writer and director on The Killing and she was the creator of Seven Seconds for Netflix which is amazing. She has a very powerful strong voice, she is an East Asian female director who has a very powerful voice with race related issues, the movie has a lot of the same flavours as Crash which was a phenomenal movie. It is an exciting thriller with a lots little very important things to say about how we as a human species interact with each other with regards to different races

HNS

In The Expanse over the seasons so far we have learned about what Earth is like of what being an Earther means and we have learned the same about the Belt. We don’t know much about Mars outside of its military, are we going to learn more about the citizens of Mars?

I think you’re going to definitely learn more about that in the new season. I know that as the books go on there is a lot exposure to Mars and Martian culture. We never really know how they are going to adapt the books, the television series doesn’t follow exactly the way the books unfold but it is also pulling information and references and material from the books. Sometimes from books in the future that they bring in to the current season well in advance so we never know what season four will have. But definitely in the story in the novels that are The Expanse there is a lot of exposure to the Martian culture so hopefully you’ll get to see some of that in season four I know Alex gets to do a lot of that.